Worms are our Friends by Toni D'Allia illustrated by Mimi Purnell

 

Worms are our friends contains a 'jolly' (mostly successful) rhyming text and delightful, flower-filled illustrations. The final lines of the book echo the opening words and round the text off in a satisfying way.

Down in the garden

just under the ground

a small wriggly worm

is crawling around.

The small wriggly worm

eats old garden waste.

It chomps on dead leaves

it just loves the taste!

Worms are our Friends is a CBCA 2025 Notable in the Early Childhood category which is for readers aged 0-6. This is most certainly a preschool book and so it fits right into that category but it could also have been listed in the Eve Pownall Non-Fiction section too. The library where I borrowed this book have shelved it in non-fiction. I agree with this decision because the final page is a summary worm facts. So, if you go into a library take a look at [592.3] this is where you will find other books about worms.  I often talk about mini themes and worms would be such a fun topic for your preschool group.

The Worm

Carl and the Meaning of Life

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has several blog posts about worms: 15th October Worm Day; 21st October World Earthworm Day and here is her Pinterest collection with books about worms.

With a group of older students I would also look at this utterly exquisite book:

My Baba's Garden

Worms are our Friends is the companion volume to:

Bees are our Friends

What About Worms? by Ryan T Higgins and Mo Willems

"I love a book that worms its way into your heart."

What About Worms is the perfect book for a newly confident reader - it is funny and it is easy to read and it invites a reader to use lots of voices. This is also a book that a young reader will be happy to read over and over again. For adult readers you might also think about the way this book 'breaks the fourth wall.'

Tiger is not afraid of anything - well no he is very afraid of worms. 

"Worms are slimy. Worms like to wiggle. And you cannot tell their tops from their bottoms."

Surely there are no worms nearby. Oh, look a lovely pot of flowers! Oh no wait a minute worms love dirt. What if they are lurking in the flowerpot? Oh, look an apple. Delicious. Oh no wait a minute worms love to hide inside apples AND our hapless tiger just took a bite! That book on the path looks good but is that a worm on the cover? Tiger just has to run away. Meanwhile some worms emerge from the ground. They are so afraid of tigers.

"Tigers are furry. Tigers like to walk. And you can tell their tops from the bottoms."

Is there a way the tiger and the worms can actually discover the truth about one another? Perhaps the book will help.

Higgins’ latest addition to the Elephant & Piggie Like Reading series is an exclamation-point–packed, liberally uppercased rambunctious rollick through the irrational world of phobias. His Hobbes-like feline is a master of inscrutability (NOT!). Expressions ranging from cheesy grins to abject terror race across the tiger’s face faster than you can thumb a flipbook. Kirkus

The book-within-a-book will intrigue beginning readers, and the Elephant/Piggie speech-balloon format will seem like a familiar friend as they follow along (look for a surprise appearance by the Pigeon). Redeemed Reader

This book won a Geisel Honour in 2021. This book would be the perfect addition to your library, your kindergarten classroom or your preschool. 

This book is from the hugely popular and hilarious series - Elephant and Piggie. 

You might also look for these as a way to continue the fun!

The Worm

Carl and the Meaning of Life by Deborah Freedman

Watch this book talk by Colby Sharp. He uses the word - Breathtaking - I agree!

Carl and the Meaning of Life is a book about the interconnections of life on earth. Beneath the surface (yes Carl lives beneath the surface) you get a sense that a huge amount of scientific research went into the writing of this book but it is presented with such a light touch that it is only after reading about the role of Carl in our ecosystems that you marvel at what you have just learnt or discovered. This is a book that seems so simple but the meaning is so big. Carl is also a book about discovering yourself and your purpose.

Carl is not a bird, or a bear, or a beaver - he is an earthworm. He is happy with his life of burrowing, tunneling, digesting, feasting and casting turning hard dirt into fluffy soil until one day a field mouse asks a question. This question sounds innocent enough - why?

"Why?
Carl did not know why.
But now he needed to find out.
So Carl stopped making fluffy soil."

Do you remember Tenrec?

Carl, like Tenrec, sets off to find an answer. He asks every animal he meets:

"Why do I do what I do?"

He asks a rabbit, a fox, a squirrel and many others. His journey takes many days and the days turn into months. The ground becomes hard and barren. Nothing will grow. The birds fly away and the animals move on. Wandering through this now desolate land Carl meets a ground beetle. The ground beetle cannot find any grubs. That is when Carl notices the land is hard - there is no fluffy soil. Carl sets to work again munching, digesting, casting and tunneling to make the soil fluffy again. Over time the landscape is transformed above and below the surface. Balance has been restored.

The final page of this book has a quote about worms from Charles Darwin:
"It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures."

I would link Carl and the Meaning of Life with Leaf, Stone, Beetle by Ursula Dubosarsky. I would also compare this book with The Tin Forest by Helen Ward, Joseph's Yard by Charles Keeping and Cat on the Island by Gary Crew. If you want to extend your study of worms take a look at The Worm by Elise Gravel.

I was interested to read an interview with Deborah Freedman by The Children's Book Review. In this interview Deborah was asked about her own favourite illustrators and so I went off to explore her list. There are so many international names here. I read a review by Betsy Bird (Mr Noggibody gets a hammer by David Shannon) just today where she said US parents are not keen to buy books with different illustration styles. Looking at the list of illustrators mentioned by Deborah Freedman, who comes from Connecticut, I have some hope that books from around the world are reaching the US. In addition to the illustrators I have put here (one book cover from each) Deborah also mentioned John Burningham and Lizbeth Zwerger whose books you may already know.

 Anne Herbauts from Belguim

 Ayano Imai from Japan

 Beatrice Alemagna from Italy now lives in Paris

On my blog: What is a child?

 Byran Collier from USA

 Kveta Pacovska Czech Artist

 Maira Kalman born in Israel lives in USA

Marije Tolman Dutch illustrator

On my blog: Wolf and Dog

Nasrin Khosravi from Iran

On my blog another book by Uma Krishnaswami The Book Uncle and Me

You can listen to an with Deborah interview at The Yarn with Colby Sharp. Huge thanks to the library staff who alerted me to this wonderful book. Carl and the Meaning of Life was published in April 2019.

Here are two review comments about Carl and the Meaning of Life:

Freedman wraps up her story with a light touch, leaving it to readers to deduce the role of an earthworm in maintaining ecological balance. Horn Book

Freedman takes one worm’s curiosity about why he does things and cleverly transforms it into a look at the interconnected roles of animals and worms on the habitat they live in. Waking Brain Cells

The Worm by Elise Gravel

Find this in your library at 592.3

I recently attended a children's book conference with the title "At Least they're Laughing".  Sadly very few of the speakers addressed this topic. We know all children are drawn to funny books. Oh how I wish the convener had invited Elise Gravel. We do need to talk about funny books and we need to talk about easy Non Fiction but even more importantly how wonderful to talk about Non Fiction that is totally factual and hilariously funny.

What makes this book funny?  Running along side the factual details our little worm adds his own witty commentary. Every page has bright clear illustrations with fun details - eyes, smiles and emotions and yes we are talking about worms!

Here are some worms - The Earthworm - "I'm the most popular!"
The Tapeworm "I'm not actually sticky!"

Some worms are parasites and live inside animals.  Elise Gravel has two worms sitting down for dinner at their dining table inside a dog - "pass the salt, please!"  This page is from the French edition.

Make sure you notice the end papers - they are perfect.

There are so many books in the Disgusting Critters series. I plan to read all of them. I would certainly add the whole set to any Primary school library collection.

My idea was to make fun science books for kids about gross bugs or animals.  Elise Gravel

Here are some more books to look for on this topic. Perhaps you could use them as a mini theme and then set up a worm farm as a part of your school garden.